en-us Science news and technology updates from Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com Copyright 1996-2013 Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com 45 http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/logo/SAlogo_144px.gif 144 Tue, 11 Jun 2013 07:30:00 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=your-hidden-censor-what-your-mind-will-not-let-you-see <p>It was a summer evening when Tony Cornell tried to make the residents of Cambridge, England see a ghost. He got dressed up in a sheet and walked through a public park waving his arms about. Meanwhile his assistants observed the bystanders for any hint that they noticed something strange. No, this wasn&rsquo;t Candid Camera. Cornell was a researcher interested in the paranormal. The idea was first to get people to notice the spectacle, and then see how they understood what their eyes were telling them. Would they see the apparition as a genuine ghost or as something more mundane, like a bloke in a bed sheet?</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=your-hidden-censor-what-your-mind-will-not-let-you-see>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Society & Policy,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 04 Jun 2013 06:30:00 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-you-are-about-to-lose <p>The posed stare-down is a staple of the pre-fight ritual. Two fighters, one day removed from attempting to beat the memories from each other, stand impossibly close, raise their clenched fists and fix their gaze on the other&rsquo;s eyes as cameras click away. This has always seemed little more than a vehicle for media hype, but new research from psychologists at the University of Illinois suggests that there may be clues in this bit of theatre that predict the results of the fight to come.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-you-are-about-to-lose>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Society & Policy Tue, 28 May 2013 10:15:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=69a99995a2d23d9af0e4013c34cbfa6b http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=where-does-identity-come-from <p>Imagine we rewound the tape of your life. Your diplomas are pulled off of walls, unframed, and returned. Your children grow smaller, and then vanish. Soon, you too become smaller. Your adult teeth retract, your baby teeth return, and your traits and foibles start to slip away. Once language goes, you are not so much you as potential you . We keep rewinding still, until we&rsquo;re halving and halving a colony of cells, finally arriving at that amazing singularity: the cell that will become you.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=where-does-identity-come-from>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,Language & Linguistics,Psychology,Biology,Language & Linguistics Tue, 21 May 2013 07:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1bab8d5c36be29a2708b998516912a51 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=you-are-less-beautiful-than-you-think <p>In April 15, 2013 Dove launched a 3-minute video entitled &ldquo;Dove Real Beauty Sketches.&rdquo; The video achieved instant popularity and has been watched millions of times -- a successful viral campaign which has been widely talked about . In the video, a small group of women are asked to describe their faces to a person whom they cannot see. The person is a forensic artist who is there to draw pictures of the women based on their verbal descriptions. A curtain separates the artist and the women, and they never see each other. Before all this, each woman is asked to socialize with a stranger, who later separately describes the woman to the forensic artist. In the end, the women are shown the two drawings, one based on their own description, the other based on the stranger&rsquo;s description. Much to their amazement and delight, the women realize that the drawings based on strangers&rsquo; descriptions depict much more beautiful women. The video ends: &ldquo;You are more beautiful than you think.&rdquo;</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=you-are-less-beautiful-than-you-think>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 14 May 2013 06:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=66c7553290b7cdb1a260bbcba8fc1741 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-rituals-work <p>Think about the last time you were about to interview for a job, speak in front of an audience, or go on a first date. To quell your nerves, chances are you spent time preparing &ndash; reading up on the company, reviewing your slides, practicing your charming patter. People facing situations that induce anxiety typically take comfort in engaging in preparatory activities, inducing a feeling of being back in control and reducing uncertainty.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-rituals-work>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Society & Policy,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 07 May 2013 06:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a81a4c5b6a5d6afc23bee4b50ae1a861 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=secrets-criminal-mind-adrian-raine <p>What is science revealing about the nature of the criminal mind? Adrian Raine, a professor at the university of Pennsylvania, is an expert in the expanding field of &ldquo;neurocriminology.&rdquo; He has written The Anatomy of Violence , a sweeping account of crime&rsquo;s biological roots, including genetics, neuro-anatomy and environmental toxins like lead. He spoke with Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook .&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=secrets-criminal-mind-adrian-raine>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=87deb3eede508f3ef5a5530e848720ee http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=moon-landing-faked-why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories <p>Did NASA fake the moon landing? Is the government hiding Martians in Area 51? Is global warming a hoax? And what about the Boston Marathon bombing&hellip;an &ldquo;inside job&rdquo; perhaps? &nbsp;</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=moon-landing-faked-why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Space,Society & Policy,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Space Exploration,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 23 Apr 2013 06:35:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=8e4a9bfb0bd8ac637d95bd2dbaa68149 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-boston-showed-about-human-nature <p>At 2:50 PM on Monday, April 15, I was sitting in my Cambridge office, separated from the finish line of the Boston Marathon by 2.5 miles of parks, city streets, and the iconic Charles River.&nbsp; Around 3:00 PM, I started receiving what would soon become a flood of messages--texts, emails, and Facebook chats, from friends, family members, and high-school classmates: &ldquo;Are you ok?&rdquo; &ldquo;Are you safe?&rdquo; &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not at the marathon, are you?&rdquo;</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-boston-showed-about-human-nature>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Society & Policy,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=00c640206cd958bbdcbcac1d597f5d07 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bullies-hurt-themselves <p>The story is all too familiar: A middle school student is tripped while walking down the aisle of a school bus, and the entire busload of children erupts in laughter. In the ensuing days and weeks, the same young student is shoved in the stairwell, harassed in the lunch room, and ridiculed online. Classmates are vicious and unyielding in their attacks, often recruiting others to join in the torment, and targeting anyone who attempts to thwart their assault. The victim becomes withdrawn, anxious, and depressed, often avoiding social interaction. Grades often plummet. In some cases the victim may lash out, seeking retribution against the bullies or even bullying other innocent students in an attempt to regain some social control and status. In the worst cases, the victim may become so despondent that the aggression turns inward and results in suicide.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bullies-hurt-themselves>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=e84d3cebb5e18ce130c1f8f3cf5d03c9 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-success-is-giving-not-taking <p>We all know what successful people look like. They are are the ones who do whatever it takes, the ones with the sharp elbows, the ones who know how to take what is theirs. But there is a different, better path to success, argues Adam Grant, in &ldquo; Give and Take .&rdquo; Grant, a professor of management at Wharton, shares research which suggest that some of the most successful people -- not just in business, but in many realms -- are in fact classic &ldquo;givers,&rdquo; people who genuinely try to help those around them. How could this be? He took questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook .</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-success-is-giving-not-taking>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Psychology,Thought & Cognition,Mind & Brain Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=e71f92a73d39c9ecbce57dc850d094ec http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-not-get-sidetracked <p>There is an area of self-help devoted to advice on completing tasks, and the focus is generally on the positive: How to get organized, how to choose good goals, how to stay motivated, etc. Francesca Gino , an associate professor at Harvard Business School, also wants to help you achieve your goals, but she begins with the negative. What are the psychological forces that send people off the rails? In Sidetracked , she argues that to succeed we first need to know our enemy, the often-unconscious factors that stop us from getting things done. Then we can fight back. She answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook .</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-not-get-sidetracked>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Psychology,Thought & Cognition,Mind & Brain Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=04e2b8f0714e7166c2ab3469a4f3da95 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-ace-an-interview-feel-powerful <p>In today&#39;s competitive job market, hopeful employees want to know what qualities lead one job candidate to prevail over dozens of other capable contenders. If we consider the recent appointment of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the highest post in the Catholic Church, then humility, servility, and meekness may top the list. Numerous anecdotes about Pope Francis&#39; unassuming nature have surfaced since his selection, including stories of him rejecting a chauffeur-driven car and images of him washing the feet of women. Perhaps the lesson here is that job seekers should reflect on their own relative insignificance, and strive to convey modesty, restraint, and vulnerability in the interview process.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-ace-an-interview-feel-powerful>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Society & Policy Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:45:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1455ec1f284d2209d571e0a393e8bb21 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-language-effects-your-wealth-health <p>Does the language we speak determine how healthy and rich we will be? New research by Keith Chen of Yale Business School suggests so. The structure of languages affects our judgments and decisions about the future and this might have dramatic long-term consequences.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-language-effects-your-wealth-health>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,Language & Linguistics,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Language & Linguistics Tue, 12 Mar 2013 07:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=364ddbc75a52133345a43a02f50951ce http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-your-moral-decisions-shaped-by-mood <p>Imagine you&rsquo;re standing on a footbridge over some trolley tracks. Below you, an out-of-control trolley is bearing down on five unaware individuals standing on the track. Standing next to you is a large man. You realize that the only way to prevent the five people from being killed by the trolley is to push the man off the bridge, into the path of the trolley. His body would stop the trolley, saving the lives of the five people further down the track.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-your-moral-decisions-shaped-by-mood>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:30:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=5bae45c9ca837b3bd8240f7ebc2c96f5 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=whats-wrong-with-the-brain-activity-map-proposal <p>The Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles features the great Grimpen Mire, a treacherous marsh in Dartmoor, England. Holmes&rsquo; protagonist, the naturalist Stapleton, knows where the few secure footholds are, allowing him to cross the mire and reach the hills with rare plants and butterflies, but he warns Dr. Watson that a false step can be fatal, the bog inexorably consuming the unsuspecting traveller. Trying to unravel the complexities of the brain is a bit like crossing the great Grimpen Mire: one needs to know where the secure stepping-stones are, and a false step can mean sinking into a morass. As we enter the era of Big Brain Science projects, it is important to know where the next firm foothold is.</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=whats-wrong-with-the-brain-activity-map-proposal>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,Neurological Disorders,Neuroscience,Biology,Mind & Brain Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ed13d34fe67296e24c1d0549a47b0d11 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-stop-bullying <p>In January of 2010, a teenage girl named Phoebe Prince walked home from school, let herself into the family apartment and hung herself in a stairwell. Prince, who&rsquo;d recently moved from Ireland, been bullied for months at school, and the bullying continued even after her death, with vicious commentary on her Facebook page. The case drew national attention and a fresh round of hand-wringing about the casual cruelty of teenagers, and the continuing failure of adults to stop it. Emily Bazelon , a reporter at Slate , distinguished herself from the rest of the journalistic pack with a combination of in-depth reporting and hard-headed analysis. Now Bazelon, who has two sons, has written a book about the culture of bullying, Sticks and Stones . She answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook .&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-stop-bullying>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Society & Policy,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:35:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=926977fb1ddb784c1844a735b83734b9 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=happiness-means-being-just-rushed-enough <p>&ldquo;Everybody knows&rdquo; that the pace of daily life is speeding up, accelerated by the proliferation of mobile phones, tablets, WiFi and other communication technologies and by fallout from the 2007 economic crisis. As if anyone needed reminding of this trend, book titles echoing the faster-paced theme include The Overworked American and Busy Bodies in the early 1990s through to Faster, Fighting for Time , and Busier Than Ever . </p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=happiness-means-being-just-rushed-enough>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f02bc04a9495fbbbd90af34b97de41ac http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=warm-weather-makes-it-hard-think-straight <p>Imagine you are on vacation and find yourself running low on a few necessities. You stop by a small convenience store to stock up and are immediately faced with the usual suspects: cramped aisles lined with chips and candy, a &ldquo;beer cave&rdquo; in the back, an oddly placed rack of discount t-shirts&hellip;and a lottery showcase behind the counter--a veritable gambler&rsquo;s paradise. Normally you wouldn&rsquo;t play; today, however, you&rsquo;re overcome by the urge to try your luck. But what game do you choose? Do you select among the dozen or so varieties of scratch tickets? Or do you opt for the classic pick-6 lotto?</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=warm-weather-makes-it-hard-think-straight>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Society & Policy,Thought & Cognition,More Science,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Everyday Science Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=6bc894c8fffd15fca7ff2234c0ed844b http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brilliance-of-dog-mind <p>Just about every dog owner is convinced their dog is a genius. For a long time, scientists did not take their pronouncements particularly seriously, but new research suggests that canines are indeed quite bright, and in some ways unique. Brian Hare , an associate professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, is one of the leading figures in the quest to understand what dogs know. The founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center , Hare has now written a book, &ldquo; The Genius of Dogs ,&rdquo; with his wife, the journalist Vanessa Woods . Hare answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook .</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brilliance-of-dog-mind>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Language & Linguistics,Thought & Cognition,Neuroscience,Psychology,Mind & Brain,Language & Linguistics Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:00:00 EST http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1f5251dc1161bd9c90155838d9152386 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-humans-like-to-cry <p>Michael Trimble , a British professor at the Institute of Neurology in London, begins his new book with Gana the gorilla. In the summer of 2009, 11-year-old Gana gave birth to a boy at a Muenster zoo. But one day in August, the baby suddenly and mysteriously died. Gana held up her son in front of her, staring at his limp body. She held him close, stroking him. To onlookers it appeared that Gana was trying to reawaken him, and, as the hours passed, that she was mourning his passing. Some at the zoo that day cried. But Gana did not. Humans, Trimble tells us, are the only creatures who cry for emotional reasons. Why Humans Like to Cry is an exploration of why this would be so, a neuroanatomical where do tears come from. It s also a meditation on human psychology. Many distinctions have been offered between humans and the rest of the animal world, and to this list Trimble adds another: the anguished tear, the apprehension that life is tragic. Trimble answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook .</p> <a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-humans-like-to-cry>[More]</a> Mind & Brain,Mind & Brain,Thought & Cognition,Psychology,Biology